The Missing Gets A Premiere Date And A Chilling New Preview

Looking at the preview for Starz's upcoming limited series The Missing, this story looks like something out of a parent's nightmare. A family goes on vacation in France in 2006. Their 5-year-old son disappears suddenly and they're faced with dealing with the loss, while also trying to find out what happened to their child. To make the situation more complicated, the disappearance happens in an unfamiliar area, which surely adds another major layer of frustration to the ordeal. It's a devastating scenario, but one that could make for a compelling TV mystery.

Described as a dramatic thriller, The Missing is set up as an 8-episode limited series, which will air on BBC One in the UK this Fall and debut on Starz on Saturday, November 15 at 9:00 p.m. -- Starz's preferred timeslot for original series. Here's the official description for the drama:

“The Missing” is a gripping dramatic thriller that goes inside the mind of a father, Tony Hughes, played by James Nesbitt (The Hobbit trilogy), desperate to locate his lost son. With help from local police detective, Julien Baptiste, played by Tcheky Karyo (Goldeneye), Tony embarks on an obsessive quest to find his son and those responsible for his disappearance. A gripping puzzle with twists and turns at every stage, Tony’s exhaustive search fractures his relationship with his wife, Emily, played by Frances O’Connor (A.I.: Artificial Intelligence), and threatens to destroy his life. Told through a delicate and complex narrative, “The Missing” unfolds over two time frames simultaneously.

Beyond the intriguing new video, which teases what may be a gripping drama, there are a couple of things that stand out with this limited series. The "limited" in question suggests that this will be a self-contained season, meaning we'll presumably get some kind of closure out of the series when the season wraps up. The other aspect that sounds interesting is the flashback element, as the description notes and the preview teases, the story will jump between the past and present. It's an interesting way to structure the story and allow us to see the mystery unfold from two different time periods. Especially as it relates to "tantalizing us with clues from the past" and then shutting the door on them in the present.

The new preview follows the previously released trailer. You can check that out on the next page...